Apr. 15, 2013

Written by

Erik Rush / Coloradoan library

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A nationally known conservative pundit and author was the victim of a deliberately faked 911 call that prompted police to swarm his Fort Collins neighborhood late Monday afternoon.

Someone claiming to be Erik Rush called Fort Collins police about 5 p.m. Monday to report two men armed with AK-47 rifles were firing rounds inside his West Swallow Road home. But because no one else reported hearing gunshots, and because the call came to 911 through a third-party relay service, police dispatchers were immediately suspicious.

Police contacted Rush via his home phone and quickly determined the call was fake: He had been “swatted.”

Speaking outside his home after police left, Rush said he had “said something sarcastically” on Twitter and things quickly escalated. Rush had posted about initial media reports that a Saudi man was somehow connected to the Boston Marathon terrorist attack.

He wrote, in response to criticism: “Yes, they’re evil. Kill them all.” Rush later said he was being sarcastic, but his post drew immediate attacks that he did little to de-escalate. At one point, he criticized “Islamist apologist worms” before the Twitter conversation deteriorated further into profanity and threats.

Standing outside his home, Rush said he made sure to come to the door in sight of police after speaking with dispatchers.

Other people who have been the victims of swatting — known because the point is to get an unwitting SWAT team to descend upon a house — have had their doors kicked in by armed police, Rush said.

“It’s really unfortunate and dangerous because people can get hurt,” Rush said. “But I get it. It comes with the territory.”

Rush is a former Coloradoan columnist and author of the book “Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal — America’s Racial Obsession.”